This is an email sent to me by a man who has taken years to speak and has now decided to go to the Police. You really could not make this up.

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Since my last email I have had to chase the police several times, and am no further forward as to giving a statement!! I really feel that there is either some conspiracy or complete lack of will on their side. After my last conversation with a B***** A***(child protection officer in (name of town)) she was unsure about the possibility of proceeding as the place has already undergone a serious investigation !! I replied that my issues were not with the place but with the individuals whom had abused me! She then stated that she was unsure if the C.P.S. (Crown Prosecution)would proceed with another prosecution. I rebutted her by stating that it was highly unlikely that any decision could be made without a statement being taken. I was then brushed off with excuses of staff shortages as well as current abuse investigations. I don't know what to say other than being bloody gobsmacked!!! This has made me even more bloody determined to deal with this. I have been assured that the police will contact me early next week ( without being too sceptical I really feel that they want this headache to just disappear). I am incensed that the police seem so disinterested.

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Abuse, get away with it for years, then when a survivor wants to come forward - the Police assist the perpetrator by refusing to take a statement becasue they think the CPS might not prosecute!

It seems that no matter what country you live in, you gotta keep bugging the police if you want anything done. Sometimes the cops are just too stretched thin and distracted by immediate crimes like bank robberies and car crashes to deal with sex abuse complaints right away. To that end, you must be persistent. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

This might be area-dependent - I had nothing but support from the police covering my area (London) and at most I had to make two extra callbacks to the same person at the same station (which turned out to be in my childhood area) because they were finishing up a court case when I first called.

I seriously doubt that a specially trained Sapphire Team would turn away any complaint, even if they couldn't proceed. The person that sent that email is going to have to dig deeper and maybe visit a station outside of his area if he still gets no joy.

Tragically "historic" abuse as the police term it, is a very long way down the priority list.

So first let's look at it's general position in Police priorities. In the case of the force in question it is 13th on the list of priorities and after vehicle crime can you believe. The Police get money from the Government for vehicle crime, but nothing for sexual abuse.

Then look at it from the local Sexual Crime Units viewpoint, underfunded, understaffed. Which is more important - the child that was raped last evening, or an adult who was abused as a child 30 years ago? In their operational minds its a no brainer.

Then take the Judiciary - the Judiciary hate historic sexual crimes, especially paedophilia. They want cases out of their court in double quick time. Why? Well they are complicated, difficult, and dangerous for the Judiciary - very few judges emerge well from a paedophile case no matter what age it is. As a result of the aforementioned complications and complexities these cases wreck the judicial performance targets. So they get the historic ones out of court using a very interesting precedent which one of the Judiciary created when a Welsh Minister who allegedly abused his step daughter came before the Judge in question. The Minister claimed that the age of the case meant he could not get a fair trial. The Judge agreed and stayed the case - and now all paedophiles brought to court late get let free on this "abuse of process claim" called the Selwyn Bell precedent.

The Police of course know about the precedent, and this makes them even less likely to take a complaint from an 'hisotric' victim in the first place.

Of course there are some exceptions to every rule but this is ENGLAND 2009.

Personally I was realistic about my expectations when making my police report when dealing with an almost 30 year old case-my word against his if they ever found him. I'm not disagreeing that police forces up and down the land vary in treatment and funding and therefore effectiveness. Your friend could've gone to the IPCC, did he? Did he go to a different force to report, which could have referred it back to the one that wasn't interested?

For an attack that happened in the early 80s the force linked to me, did what they could and concentrated on making sure I was 100% comfortable with the process. I was also mindful of and inspired by the fact that the late Steven Stayner, convicted his abuser properly from beyond the grave by making a statement at the time. He died, the perp offended all over again, they found his statement, combined it with the new crime and the perp died in jail.

So if my abuser went on to offend against others as he got older, then my statement is on record and the educational establishment where it happened, was more to blame when it came to blocking the investigation, than the police being ineffective.

To take your example, it wouldn't be totally out of the ordinary if the attacker of your friend from 30 years ago, was the same offender against the child raped last week. It's about a buildup of evidence and yeah you/r friend can feel hard done by if you don't get instant results, or you can say you've done your bit short of taking the law into your own hands and move on.

In the Dr. William Ayres child molestation case, they had victims from as far back as 1966 and then going up to the late 90s. Surely you must know by research that a man who rapes a kid today generally has done it before. They almost never stop at one.

I disagree with your assessment of how cops treat sex abuse cases. And I have never heard of a case where judges emerge badly from a pedophile trial. I am sure there is one but it is not the majority. Your research sounds very old.. How about Dean Schwartzmiller in California, who was busted for molesting hundreds of boys ? I don't recall either the cops or the judges coming out looking badly like that.

There are good cops and bad cops and good and bad judges but I am hoping you might want to take a good look at cases that have been prosecuted.

Overlooking the offensiveness of the first line of your post, which was perhaps unintended, you do raise a myriad of issues in your reply the most important of them in the last two paragraphs. As it transpires the alleged abuser remains young, now has a family, and has apparently been named on further occasions by different people. Is there abuse in the familial setting? Who knows but without a complaint none of this can emerge into the daylight for the authorities to look at. Abuse leaves a footprint at the place it occurs, in the methodology, and was the alleged perpetrator in a ring - well as it transpires - yes.

The default setting of all institutions is to conceal and obfuscate - it goes with the territory.

And in these matters there are no instant results as I know for personal experience.

But if the complaint cannot be filed, then the complaint has to be written and handed into the police. If not written well and constructed correctly it is also valueless. So the Police should be taking it. [see next post]

My post refers to English Police, and the English Judicial Service under the guidance of Her Majesty's Court Service, formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department, its present structure and the changes experienced since the formation of the Crown Prosecution Service.

I have not, and would not consider commenting on US Police or the US Judicial Service of which I have scant knowledge. But the comments I made in my original post are sourced from detailed information provided to me by the authorities quoted.

Since this post the Police service in question has apologised and the matter is being resolved becasue it is recognised his information is relevant.

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